Are We Meant to Be?
by Cloudy Winters
Summary: Haruko Hyde Sohma is sent to monitor Kyo, Yuki and Tohru and enrolls in their school. However, all she can think about is Akito (Akito is male in this story. Also, it's my first time writing, so constructive criticism is welcome! Rated M for later chapters)


I went up to the door of the classroom, dreading going in. Why did I have to be here? Why couldn't I just teach myself? There were online schools with curriculums teaching the same stuff, right?

I sighed, putting my hand on the doorknob. Not only was it unhelpful, but there were so many guys! It was so easy to run into one… Then what? The whole school'd go berserk. My hand tightened.

I hated him. I hated Akito for doing this to me.

I turned the knob and walked in, brooding. The teacher was in mid-sentence and stopped to stare at me. The other students did, too, one holding out his hand, the other bending to the side, her arm outstretched with a note in her hand. I smirked and wondered what they were writing about. Maybe a complaint or a plan to meet after school.

Their hair was mostly brown, some blond-ish, one ginger. I turned my attention back to the teacher. He was still staring at me. I gave an exasperated sigh.

"I'm your new student," I muttered.

I was aware of the dark cloud billowing around me - well aware. And I knew I wasn't making a good first impression; I didn't care all that much. Then I added, mostly speaking to make myself realize that I couldn't defy Akito, "Whether or not you like it…"

"No! I don't have a problem with that," he said quickly. I nodded and looked past him out the window. A sparrow flew by; Teacher cleared his throat. "Everyone, this is Haruko Sohma." A few people either fidgeted or scoffed. "She's a new-"

"Hyde," I corrected.

"Excuse me?"

I looked directly at him and repeated, "Hyde. Haruko Hyde. Sohma is my, ah, _adopted_ name. Hyde is my real name, and the name I'd prefer."

"Um, of course. Miss _Hyde_ has recently moved here. I expect you all be nice to her."

I laughed. I couldn't help it. The word "nice" was so… babyish. He should have known that teenagers naturally aren't "nice." I shook my head when he looked at me, then looked back out the window. "Never mind."

"You can have a seat over there, by Kyo," Teacher said. My head jerked to the ginger, Kyo. He stared back at me, his eyes blazing. But mixed with his anger was confusion.

So _he _was Kyo… I remembered Akito mentioned him to Hatori while on the subject of wasserface… Tohru, was her name? Kyo was living with her and Yuki, then. I looked away, walking casually to the empty desk on his right. It wasn't in the middle row or at the back. I decided I'd be fine for now. It was only for a little while that I'd be here, anyway.

I sat down, feeling Kyo tense and emit a wave of hate toward me. I sighed. He didn't know me. I glared at Teacher for saying my new last name.

Now let me clear this up. I say Sohma is not my name. I also say that it is my adopted name, as I just did. This is true; both are. And I've all sorts of questions about this. "Are you Akito's wife? His sister?" "Why do you call yourself a Sohma if you're a Hyde?" Well, I am not Akito's anything but servant who is madly in love with him. I do not talk about my history, and don't intend to start now. But I guess I can say how the whole "Sohma" thing started.

You see, Hatori found me one day. He took me to his home and nursed me back to health. Akito later found out that Hatori had been sheltering me; spoiling me. So, to make me useful, he named me his servant. Until the day I came limping in as a wolf, he kept his distance from me as much as possible. But after he saw me like that, refusing to let Hatori treat me because he wanted to, he tried to help me as best he could. I didn't mind that. After all, I'd been disowned for something I couldn't control. It was nice to be looked after.

I learned that I was part of the Sohma family because of my odd ability; I had a home and family and I was grateful.

After an hour of note-taking, the bell finally rang. I jumped up and half-sprinted out the door. Outside, I collided with someone whose books fell onto the floor, and they grunted. I didn't change, I realized. That meant either the person was a Sohma, too, or…

"I'm sorry!" a voice squeaked.

I looked at the girl. She was slightly shorter than me with long brown hair and wide blue eyes. I smiled. "It's all right."

I bent over to pick up her books and my head hit something hard. Another head. I looked up. This guy I recognized. I smiled my best smile.

"Hey, Yuki," I said. He stared back at me. Kyo, I felt, walked up behind me. "Kyo… It's good to see you outside of class," I said to him, not turning around.

Kyo scoffed, walking around me. "Whatever. Come on, Tohru. Let's go."

But the others stayed put when he went by them; Tohru resisted his pull.

Yuki smiled half-heartedly. "Do I know you?"

I pondered it, tilted my head to the side, and replied, "Hmm. Perhaps not really, no. But I'm quite sure you've heard of me. After all, every other Sohma has."

"Tell me your name."

"Her name's Haruko _Hyde_," Kyo told him nastily.

Yuki looked at me. "I'm sorry…"

"AKA, Haruko _Sohma_. Hmph, you don't look like a Sohma."

I raised an eyebrow at that, putting my hands just below the band of my skirt, causing it to lift up on my thighs. Kyo watched it rise. "Oh? And how exactly is a Sohma _supposed _to look in public? Like an _animal_?"

"I didn't mean that!" he stammered.

I let out my breath slowly. This guy was gonna get on my nerves for sure. I turned back to Yuki. "I'm Akito's servant."

Yuki blinked. "Servant?"

"Yes. It's hard, really. I mean, he's a guy and everything. And on top of that, well… He's sick so often…" My cheeks burned. I'd said too much – Revealed too much of myself.

"You worry?"

"I… Of course! He's not living much of a life… Um, actually, I think this conversation can wait a bit, don't you? Well, see ya!"

I took my opportunity and ran.

My next class was all the way down the hall. The last door to the left, if I remembered correctly. I walked into the classroom right before the tardy bell rang. I breathed a sigh of relief and took a seat- the only seat left. It was at the back of the middle row.

I set my bag down, leaning it against my chair. This class wasn't evenly split between boys and girls. In fact, I was one in three girls in here out of thirty students. Just my luck.

"Class," Teacher Two said. "I am your new teacher, Mr. Avery. Now, if you will take out your materials, we will start today by discussing classroom regulations and expectations."

I heard, but didn't listen. I moved like a robot: I knew what was expected of me; what I needed to do. Write what was on the board, listen (at least pretend to) attentively, blah blah blah.

So I did.

Lunchtime came quickly enough for me. I wasn't hungry, so I decided not to eat and instead sat under a tree next to a fence.

I grabbed my bag and rummaged through it, searching for the book I'd brought. I found it and began to read. I was completely absorbed in it and hardly noticed Kyo when he sat next to me.

His aura wasn't telling me he wanted me gone. In fact, it was telling me nothing. He cleared his throat; I looked at him.

"Yeah?" I asked, gently closing my finger in the book to keep my page.

"I-Haruko…"

"Kyo."

"I'm… Look-"

"I can forgive you," I told him, checking the page number I was holding. Fifty-three. I could remember that. I set it beside me, looking into Kyo's eyes. I brought my knees to my chin and wrapped my arms around them. "The question is: _Will _I forgive you?"

"Yes, you will," Kyo told me.

"Don't tell me what to do, Cat. Keep this up and the words will never escape your lips. And quite frankly-"

"Kyo!"

We looked ahead. Running at us was Tohru, Yuki being half-dragged behind behind her.

"Hi," she said when she reached us.

"I was kinda in the middle of something…" Kyo replied. Tohru's eyes widened.

"Oh! I- I'm sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt!"

I stood. "It's all right. So, what classes do you have? I noticed we don't share any yet."

Her eyes lit up. "Oh! Yeah, I guess we don't. But it's okay since we can always meet up here!"

I smiled and looked at each of them. "Yeah… Yeah, I guess so."

"So, you're Akito's servant?"

My eyes flicked to her, then focused on the ground. "Yes."

"I'm sorry," Tohru said. I looked at her.

"Why?" I guess my stare was too intense for her, because her face turned red and she started sweating.

"I don't mean that I'm sorry for you being Akito's servant or anything!" she said quickly. "I just meant that I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"Yes, it's a rather tender subject…"

"Haruko," Kyo touched my arm. I looked at him. "I'm sorry. Y'know, for being a…"

"Jerk? Dickhead?" I offered.

"Yeah," he said. "Those…"

I laughed and hugged him, thankful he wasn't normal. Thankful he was a Sohma. "I forgive you. I can't not do it."

"Why?"

"Because the Cat never did anything wrong." I winked at him, picked up my bag and book, and began walking to my next class, leaving him staring after me. I had three minutes until the bell rang, but I made a nice exit. Didn't want to ruin it by going back and waiting for the bell.

I wondered if I was going to make a habit of leaving early…

I paused outside the door of the classroom; the teacher wasn't there. I slid my back down the wall, allowing myself to nod off. But before I did, I glimpsed two people. One blonde and one old guy with white hair. They stopped next to me and White Head cleared his throat. When I looked up I saw he wasn't old at all. He was about my age; I smiled.

"Hey," I said.

"Hi," White Head replied and nodded to the door. "He's not in there?"

"Don't think so," I said.

"Huh. Mind if we join you?"

"Nuh-uh."

They sat down on either side of me. White on the right, Blonde on the left. Blond looked at me. It was wearing a girls' uniform, yet there was something about it that was boyish. It grinned.

"I'm Momiji!" it piped up. "And that's Hatsuharu! We're Sohmas."

That caught me by surprise. I didn't know there were more Sohmas here. I'd thought that Yuki and Kyo were the only ones. I looked at Hatsuharu again, recognizing him from the Banquet. He ruffled my hair.

"Forget me already?" he teased. "Great. Ya know, they said you had a good memory."

"I do!" I said. "I just didn't recognize you."

"If you can't recognize _this-_" he pointed to his head- "then you've got issues."

I laughed at that. "Yeah, I guess. I find it hard to believe that your hair's naturally is that color. But, you're a cow, so… Guess it's not too much of a shock when you know that much."

"Yeah… Guess not."

"And you, Momiji." He looked at me. "Why're you wearing a girl uniform?"

"It looks good on me, doesn't it?" he asked, grinning. He stood up and twirled.

I smiled. "Yes, it really does suit you! How did you get away with it?"

"Well…"

"The student president decided to attack us once," Haru said. "He yelled at me for my hair and Momiji for cross-dressing."

"Uh-huh…Then?" I prompted, intrigued.

"Well, he didn't believe that this was my natural hair color…"

"Oh, God… You didn't-!"

"I did. I was pissed. So then I framed him for thinking Yuki would be gorgeous in a girl uniform, and the two girls that followed him around for thinking Momiji can wear the guys' uniform when he got older. Heh, hasn't bothered us since."

He stretched his legs and spread out on the floor, resting his head on my lap.

I clapped, bringing attention to myself. Then I patted his head and rested my hand on his chest. "Bravo."

Haru laughed. "Thanks."

I turned back to Momiji. "You did great at the Banquet, Momiji. That was a cute dance; it was good."

"You saw me?" His big eyes blinked.

"Heh, yeah. You were awesome! I'm sure you didn't notice me. I was busy making myself useful to Akito. 'Go do this, Haruko!' 'Go do that, Haruko…' Sometimes I wish he were…" I paused catching myself, hoping they wouldn't notice.

"Dead? Gone? Forever?" Haru offered. I stared at the ground. "Poof?"

I couldn't say things like that, not while Akito's in the state he is now. Any breath could be his last, and I cannot let him die with me thinking that I was the one who brought it upon him by wishing he were dead. I cannot let him die at all. So I shook my head.

We heard footsteps and our teacher walked to the door. "I'm sorry I'm late."

"He's late?" I asked Haru.

"Yeah," he replied. "Bell rang like… five minutes ago."

"Huh." I didn't notice, but the crowd of angry students behind us told me that he was telling the truth.

The rest of the day inched by.


End file.
